KUALA LUMPUR (March 20): Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government chose former Finance Minister Tun Abdul Daim Zainuddin to lead the negotiation on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project due to the latter's skills.

"When we chose a candidate to negotiate, it was based on his or her skills; apart from skill, we have to also consider whether such candidate is acceptable by the other party or not, there are also certain restrictions that we have to follow when we choose our candidate," he told Dewan Rakyat today.

Dr Mahathir was asked why the government decided to choose Abdul Daim as the negotiator with China on the ECRL project instead of Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby today, Dr Mahathir said if Putrajaya continued with the terms of agreement signed by the previous government on the ECRL project, the country would have to repay RM130 billion over the course of 30 years.

"If we continue, we will be borrowing as much as RM60 billion to pay back, we have to pay with interest, and that will take us about 30 years (to pay back). The amount added with the interest will reach over RM100 billion, some estimated that it will be RM130 billion," he said.

"That is why we cannot afford this project. We are negotiating. I cannot talk about the terms, because this is private negotiation, not for the public to be told about the progress.

"I cannot say (whether negotiation will be concluded) before I go to China, because at this moment, we depend not only (on) how Malaysia would negotiate, but also the response from China," he added.

Dr Mahathir also said ECRL specification may not include double tracking after the negotiation.

"We look again at the project, and we found that some parts are not really necessary, we may not have to do double tracking for example. Because the initial projection for carriage of cargo and passenger is rather small, we can postpone parts of the construction or plan until later when it is required," he said.